Generally Num Lock is set in the Bios. If someone wishes then to temporarily turn off num lock they would use the Num Lock key. This only serves a purpose on keyboards with an actual numbers keyboard. Many laptops do not have this feature and the numbers are incorporated directly in the alpha keys of the keyboard. I have noticed that newer laptops are now beginning to include a numbers keyboard once again. I think this is a great idea. I know when I went from my desktop to my laptop, I initially missed the numbers keyboard very much. Having the numbers across the top was not nearly as convenient as having a numbers keyboard separate from the alpha keyboard.

Actually my laptop is a wide screen (16.4inch. 16:9 ratio), but does not have the numbers keyboard. For a while laptops did not. There is plenty of room so who knows. The new laptop I bought for my granddaughter does have one and it's actually slightly smaller. They probably had a large amount of complaints from consumers and added it back in. I know it was quite a shock not having it initially. Oh well, eventually I'll have to replace this laptop. The new one probably will have one again, or maybe it will be something entirely new.